How to build a playlist with an energy curve

Every great playlist has a shape. Not a genre. Not a vibe. A shape. The pros call it an energy curve — and once you see it, you can't unsee it. It's why your favourite album feels like one piece of music, and why a shuffled "Liked Songs" feels like nothing at all.

What is an energy curve?

It's the line your playlist's intensity draws over time. Rising, falling, plateauing, peaking. A workout curve looks different from a Sunday morning curve looks different from a dinner party curve — but they all have a curve.

The four common shapes

1. Rise: low → high. Mornings, pre-game, focus into deep work.
2. Arc: low → high → low. A run, a workout, a party set.
3. Plateau: steady-high throughout. Long drives, cleaning, cardio.
4. Fall: high → low. Cooldowns, wind-downs, sleep.

How to build one by hand

1. Pick a duration that matches the activity (run = 60 min, dinner = 2 hr).
2. Pick a shape from above.
3. Score each candidate song on a 1–10 energy scale.
4. Order tracks so the scores follow your shape.
5. Smooth the transitions — don't jump from a 3 to a 9.

The shortcut

My Flowlist does all of this automatically. You pick the moment (a template), we score every track in your Apple Music library and sequence them along the right curve — then save the result back as a real playlist.